The summer enrichment conundrum

Early August is peak season for spending time out of the office and seeking every opportunity to enjoy the summer. It’s also a time to reflect on our efforts to keep those young minds among us sharp for the upcoming school year. As we reflect on June and July, some of us may be feeling pretty good about having established (and adhered to) a plan for academic enrichment and skills review this summer. Meanwhile, some of us might be wishing we were more restrictive regarding the amount of time our kids have spent online or on other non-academic pursuits. It is indeed summer after all.

While it’s natural to want to slow the pace and shed the anxieties related to academics over the summer, we should have a healthy concern about the academic skills that our students did not master during the prior school term. There is an abundance of websites that’ll provide tips on avoiding the “summer slide.” After reviewing results on standardized test scores such as the PARCC test on http://www.mdreportcard.org for some of our local schools, we may conclude “Hey, we need to heed those tips. There’s work to do.”

Let’s take this opportunity to exchange thoughts on this topic:

What resources have you found helpful for academic review this summer?

About how much time have you recommended your child study each day?

This summer has been an eye-opener for me as I’ve ventured into the land of SAT prep with a group of fellow parents with high-school aged students. It’s obviously been a long time since we’ve taken the SAT. I plan to write a post specifically about that experience, but I’ll leave you with one thought. The content on the SAT reminds you how important it is to reinforce strong reading and math skills, very early on.

Stay tuned for more on this topic, and for suggested online resources to help you through the next school year.

Meanwhile, before you grab that cool drink next to you on the beach or flick to that next story in your news feed, please take a few seconds to comment on the two questions above.